Was Guru Nanak a Good Father?

findingmyway · #61 (**permalink**) 20-Aug-2010, 01:57 AM

We must not judge on what we are but judge according to what we should be. Mata Sulakhni Ji was not living without her husband. She still had his support and affection. She was a very strong woman and an inspiration. She understood the importance of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's work. If he did not have her support he would not have been able to achieve as much as he did. Just Curious Ji, you keep talking about emotional and physical needs. However she was stronger and more spiritual than requiring his presence constantly. Just curious Ji I advise you to get your head out of the gutter so you can comprehend relationships which are beyond the flesh. And give women the credit that they can look after themselves. The other accusation you lay is that Guru Nanak Dev Ji abandoned his children. Let me ask you 3 questions. People who are in the armed forces and are rarely home-are they abandoning their families? If they die on duty and leave the family behind, are they being irresponsible? At least Guru Nanak Dev Ji still provided support and a wonderful role model from afar. Finally, are these people in the armed forces gallivanting? If you answer yes, then you have no respect. If no, then how can you say Guru Nanak Dev Ji was? His mission, if anything was more important as it was to dispel false beliefs and increase harmony in the world.

BaljeetSingh · #62 (**permalink**) 03-Sep-2010, 00:54 AM

I apologize in advance for not reading all the 60 posts and if my thoughts are repeats of other posts, please ignore my comments.

Guru Nanak had a broader vision of what he had to do in his life time. Before heading out to travel all over South Asia, I am sure he must have discussed this in great detail with his family (including his wife). I do not think he "abandoned" his family. On the contrary, I think his family might have encouraged him to travel to enlighten the world with his vision.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-gurus/24028-was-guru-nanak-a-good-father.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24028

Regards

BaljeetSingh · #63 (**permalink**) 03-Sep-2010, 00:58 AM

Quote:

I think Guru Nanak was a great Father like Jesus.

Strongly disagree comparing Guru Nanak with Jesus. Guru Nanak got married and had a family. He traveled all over South Asia to spread his word. Even in his last days, he did hard work (farming). On the contrary, Jesus never got married, nor had family and did not work to raise a family. Not to mention his claims about being "son of God".

Tejwant Singh · #64 (**permalink**) 03-Sep-2010, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaljeetSingh

Strongly disagree comparing Guru Nanak with Jesus. Guru Nanak got married and had a family. He traveled all over South Asia to spread his word. Even in his last days, he did hard work (farming). On the contrary, Jesus never got married, nor had family and did not work to raise a family. Not to mention his claims about being "son of God".

Baljeet Singh ji,

Guru Fateh.

Well said and let us not forget that Jesus never said nor wrote a single word,unlike Guru Nanak.

Narayanjot Kaur · #65 (**permalink**) 03-Sep-2010, 03:09 AM

baljeet ji

Notice that the first comment is by Randip Singh ji, one of our moderators. He started the thread because the question came up in a conversation that he had participated in. Randip ji reports on some claims that are often made in internet discussions, but here he turns the tables on possible questioners.

Quote:

This was an interesting discussion I had the other night. Several facts were pointed out to me (note I don't necessarily agree with these views).

1) He left his own family and went wandering, in effect leaving his sons to their own devices?

2) He seemed to be more concerned about the welfare of everyone else then his own children?

3) He did not seem to be a good provider for his family?

what are everyone else's views?

I may be repeating myself here too. Very often, when the question, Was Guru Nanak a good father, is put forward, it is the first shot in a trolling episode on this and other forums. The idea is to put forum members on the defensive, and then take advantage of that. One here and one there will jump to the defense of Guru Nanak, giving answers that then open to the troller more issues to attack.

It is a favorite strategy on forums like TOPIX, and is often the gambit of Muslims who then point out that Mohamed never took trips, left his wives or children to their own devices.

This makes Mohamed look the the man with the better answer, which in turn gets members on a Sikh forum or discussion board very angry.

Of course all kinds of assumptions are being made in these discussions which don't stand up under tests of logic and common sense. But the troller has had his fun with the forum and returns another day. Usually after everyone has forgotten the previous episode and are caught off guard once again.

The question is a lure. We don't have to bite it.

karam · #66 (**permalink**) 07-Sep-2010, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustCurious

Why did Guru Nanak undertake the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood if he was aware that he would need to go and travel to share his mission?

How can it be right or fair for the breadwinner to leave his family for a total of 28 years (almost half his adult life) to be a burden for others to take care of? How can it be called love to leave your wife behind with your children to fend for herself and her children for years on end. What could his sons have felt seeing their father and role-model disappearing for years on end? Even if Guru Nanak had left behind sufficient money to cover their material needs, what about the emotional and physical needs of his wife? Who was taking care of these in his long absences?
Wouldn't his wife and sons begun to resent the fact that their absent husband/father was busy taking care of the "whole world was his family" & "sons(children) under the sun were his sons" instead of his own flesh and blood?

Isn't the fact that Guru Nank went gallivanting around India and other parts of the world for the majority of his children's early-mid years show as a bad example for them and also other Sikhs to emulate? How then can he be seen as a good example, when the example is bad?

Why did he see a need to go to Mecca to convince the people there of the One God when they already believed in One God and were following a strictly Monotheistic religion? Isn't that called preaching to the choir? Also if Sikhism believes that all religions lead to God, why was Guru Nanak proselytising the Sikh religion at all?

"When Guru Nanak received his call from God , he left everything & set out on a mission that has hardly been achieved by any other human being."
There are many accounts of other human beings who travelled far wider and through different parts of the world then Guru Nanak. Like Marco Polo & the famous traveller ibn Battuta who according to wikipedia:

"His journeys lasted for a period of nearly thirty years and covered North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo. With this extensive account of his journey, Ibn Battuta is often considered as one of the greatest travellers ever."

even if we will explain why Guru Nanak set out for travels far and wide people like you with narrow vision won't understand why Guru Nanak went on travels to take care of this world, In my view Guru Nanak set out a good example that alongwith your family this world is also our home so we need to take care of this world too, all or most worldly people are self centered and think about themselves only but only spiritually oriented people can think of other people's welfare, Guru Nanak thought about everyone, How can you expect a great Guru like Guru Nanak to act self centered and think of his family only? we all leave homes sometimes in our lives for our small worldly missions but that don't mean we abandon our families,
If Guru Nanak would have stayed home and spent his life entertaining his wife, accumulating money etc like all of us, I don't think it would have been a good example on part of a spiritual leader,
He did not go to mecca preaching God but to preach God is every where,one can be with God any where, he just wanted to clear that rituals like going to mecca etc are useless.
I don't think Guru Nanak was in competition with any other travellers, whatever examples you have given are useless, take home this most important point that Guru Nanak was not a human being like Mohd. he was above us